Note: Image is cropped to just Samson and the Lion.

Image description: Medieval illustration, from a book. On the left half, Samson (long haired, blond) sits atop a lion. He holds open the lion's mouth. The lion's tongue sticks out. On the right half, slightly closer to the viewer, are an older man and woman. They're clad in long green and red robes. The woman has a white head-covering. The man has a green head-covering. They're both looking away from Samson and the lion. The woman's hands are clasped in prayer.

Found at: The New York Public Library

Image description: this object is an ivory comb. It has two sets of teeth, separated by an engraved scene. The set above the scene has finely spaced teeth. The set below the scene has wider teeth. The wider teeth have been damaged, and re-attached with silver. The scene is of Samson holding open a lion's mouth. Around him are animals--a sheep, a monkey, birds. The scene is surrounded by vines.

Found at: Louvre

Image description: Samson (a long-haired blond man wearing a red robe or tunic) sits astride a lion with his right leg kicking out. Samson holds open the lion's mouth with both hands. The lion braces himself against the frame of the image. The background is a flat brown or muddy gold, with rolling greenness at the feet of the lion.

Cropped from an image of four miniature scenes. The full-page image is available at below link.

Found at: New York Public Library~___~

Image description: Woodblock print? of a wooded scene. In the foreground, there is a man straddling a lion. The lion is on its back, with hind paws kicking in the air. The man is wearing a robe and is holding open the lion's jaws. In the background are two older figures, a man and a woman. There is a footpath and a simple bridge.

Found at: The British Museum

Image description: stereoscopic print (two photographs taken slightly offset, such that you could look at them through a special viewer and get a 3d effect, like an old-timey Viewmaster). Orange border around the image. The black and sepia print shows a statue of a bare-chested man in a robe, standing astride a recumbent lion. The man holds open the lion's mouth. The statue is on a lawn, with trees and a pathway in the distance.

Found at: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "ohn Hoey's Garden, Long Branch." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1875. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-4b49-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Image description: a crude line drawing of a stick figure giving a yellow oval to a three-headed creature (probably meant to be a dog).

Source: I asked my partner to help find a picture of Psyche and Cerberus. Partner helped.

Image description: Psyche hesitantly stands in front of Cerberus. She wears a blue skirt and a plum blouse, with a golden pattern. Her headdress is white with red trim. She holds a blue box and two rolls. Cerberus is depicted as a red-tongued three-headed black beast. The background looks like a body of water. The foreground is nondescript and rocky. There are hints of a cave opening at the borders of the image.

Found at: https://www.artrenewal.org/artworks/psyche-and-cerberus/edmund-dulac/6474

Image description: Round plate. Colors are grey, black, and gold. Psyche feeding Cerberus. Cerberus is either vomiting or breathing flames. Cerberus to the left with stone building in flames, to the right, three women weaving. The ground is stony. There is a tree in the background. Plate border is gold foliage with 4 white ovals inset, with human figures standing or laying.

Found at British Museum

Image description: Engraving of a woman with curly hair in an updo, wearing a robe or peplos. She hold a cup in her right hand and leans down to feed a roll to a three-headed dog. The dog's left head looks downard, the middle head takes the treat, and the right head looks uneasy or wary. Behind the dog is a doorway and a fallen column.

Found at: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Note: Image is cropped to focus on Psyche and Cerberus. Full image is available at above link.

#cerberus #psyche

Image description: porcelain figures of a lion with a man crouched, barefoot, on top of the lion. The man wears a robe decorated with dots and circles. The lion is struggling to get away. The man is holding open the lion's mouth with his hands. The porcelain has been broken and repaired.

Found at: MFABoston, https://collections.mfa.org/objects/53479/hercules-and-the-nemean-lion?ctx=39705d6b-a134-4e70-b578-a1f56f33fbb0&idx=18

I'm going to start adding image descriptions going forward--it's a good habit to get into.

Feel free to add your own image descriptions in the comments.

Image description: Detail from an illustrated manuscript. A man in a red robe with long brown hair, forked brown beard, and a pink cap straddles a lion. He holds open the lion's mouth. The lion's tongue sticks out, like it's saying "aaaah". There are trees all around. There are two men in the trees watching what's going on. There is a shiny gold border around the scene.

Found at: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/107TXV#full-artwork-details

Image description: bronze sculpture. A small man with long hair sits atop a large lion. The size disparity is immense. The man gently holds open the lion's mouth, one hand on the top lips and one hand on the bottom. The lion looks a bit confused at the situation.

Found at: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/uAHLe0IGtOmTdg?childAssetId=iwFZB7A2gbuTmA&hl=en

It is currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City--their page about is at https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460882 .

A aquamanile is a jug or ewer in the form of 1 or more animals.

Found at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Samson-Peterhof.jpg .

The original statue was looted from Saint Petersburg, Russia, by Nazis during WWII and a replacement was installed in 1947.

Samson and his lion again.

Image description: flat medieval drawing. Samson sits astride the lion. The lion faces right. He holds open the lion's mouth. Samson's right leg is between the hind legs of the lion. His left leg is over top of the lion, bent at the knee, with the foot on the right side of the lion.

Sidenote: It's not a comfortable pose. My partner and I tried it out (for art science!) and it's awkward and unstable.

Found at http://tudigit.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/show/Hs-2505/0109 , page 55r. (The linked image is worth seeing--In addition to Samson and his lion, there is a crowned man who seems almost happy to be stabbed through the stomach.)

Found at St. Louis Art Museum

Found at St. Louis Museum of Art.

Found at https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/works/24549/

Jason and the Dragon, c. 1663/1664 by Salvator Rosa.

Jason (of Jason and the Argonauts fame) canonically drugged the dragon guarding the golden fleece, with a sleeping potion.

Found at: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.53455.html

Found at: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.43917.html

Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_of_Lam-ang_at_Kapurpurawan_Rock_Formation_sunset.jpg

Lam-ang is the protagonist of the Biag ni Lam-ang, an epic poem of the Ilocano people of the Philippines

English translation of the poem.

Found at: https://www.moillusions.com/horse-pill-optical-illusion/

Touch your nose to the X (or cross your eyes) to make the horse swallow the pill.

Anonymous Russian icon painter (before 1917)Public domain image (according to PD-RusEmpire), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This was in my memes folder and I don't know where it came from.